Novel dinuclear NHC–gold(i)-amido complexes and their application in energy transfer photocatalysis

The development of efficient and operationally simple synthetic routes to dinuclear gold(i)-amido complexes bearing aromatic/aliphatic-bridges are reported. This family of complexes was prepared utilizing environmentally friendly and sustainable reagents under mild conditions, resulting in 68-92% yields of the targeted compounds. These novel dinuclear gold(i)-amido complexes were structurally and spectroscopically characterized. Their photophysical properties were also studied. This series of gold complexes are phosphorescent with lifetimes in the hundreds of microseconds range. They exhibit high catalytic activity as photosensitizers in intramolecular cycloaddition and cyclization reactions at catalyst loadings ranging from 0.5 to 2 mol%.